Updated 1.12pm
An increase in COVID-19 cases could be linked to increased social activity surrounding the Santa Marija holiday period, public health chief Charmaine Gauci has said.
Health authorities reported 76 new virus cases on Wednesday – the highest single-day tally in two weeks. The number of new daily cases had hovered between 35 and 50 over the past week.
Speaking during the Ask Charmaine fortnightly show, Gauci cited the Santa Marija holiday period as a possible cause for the slight spike in case numbers.
“People were meeting together and many went abroad and would have been exposed. So this was to be expected,” she said.
Gauci however said that some more time would have to pass before health authorities could definitively link the spike to the holiday period.
Gauci was interviewed by Times of Malta news editor Diana Cacciottolo.
COVID-19 patient breakdown
As of Wednesday, 31 patients out of the 683 active COVID-19 cases in the country were in hospital.
Gauci said “a number” of those patients were vaccinated, with many of them being elderly.
Of the two patients requiring intensive care, one is vaccinated and the other is not.
“Over 90% of eligible people are fully vaccinated and we are seeing the impact of that. There are much fewer cases in hospital now than before. “
The Delta variant is the dominant strain of COVID-19 currently circulating in Malta.
Schools: expect bubbles and masks
Gauci said health and education authorities had finalised protocols to reopen schools.
“We look at the health aspect of protocols: masks, social distancing, bubbles and so on. These are adapted for implementation by schools,” she said.
Gauci made it clear that the bubble concept would remain in force and indicated that mask-wearing rules will also remain in force.
“Having children in cohorts is very important,” she said. "And we know that masks make a difference."
Children have been the most compliant group when it comes to hand washing, she said, and that boded well for future hygiene standards.
Rules for sixth forms and university students would also be announced by education authorities soon, Gauci said.
Learning from Israel and UK
Health authorities have spoken to their counterparts in Israel, which has seen a rise in the number of virus cases despite high vaccination rates, and are looking at data from the UK too.
"We are learning from their experiences," Gauci said.
Gauci said a lot of this was due to the Delta virus variant, which sparked more breakthrough infections.
Waning vaccine immunity could also be a factor, she said, noting that locally, booster shots would soon be given to the immunocompromised and people in homes for the elderly.
Israel has already started providing booster vaccine doses to its residents. Locally, people who receive a booster dose will not need to re-download their COVID-19 vaccine certificate, as this will remain valid in its current format.
Weddings
Gauci said that many people were now opting to hold their weddings under event protocol guidelines, allowing them to have weddings of up to 500 people provided that guests remain seated and are fully vaccinated.
Those who want to have standing weddings can have events of up to 100 people, provided they are all fully vaccinated.
Standing events guidelines
Gauci said guidelines for standing events would be released “very very soon”, though she declined to specify when exactly that would happen.
Standing events are due to resume on Monday, but the entertainment lobby has noted that guidelines for such events have not yet been published.
Canadian vaccine certificates
Answering a reader’s question about accepting Canadian vaccine certificates, Gauci argued that Malta had been very proactive in accepting foreign certificates and had done more than most other countries.
Canadian vaccine certificates currently do not include a QR code that allows local authorities to verify certificates upon entry, Gauci said. However, the Canadian government has indicated that it will be adding QR codes to its certificates.
“We need proper ways of verifying these certificates,” Gauci explained.
Gauci said that fake vaccine certificates were a problem locally, too.
“We come across fake vaccine certificates at the airport and you see this with the court cases that result,” she said. Fake certificates come from various countries, she added.
Minors placed in quarantine
Gauci was asked why children who lived in Malta were made to isolate in a quarantine hotel despite having a local address.
The issue came to the fore this week after a mother claimed that her two children, aged 9 and 17, were sent to quarantine without her.
Gauci said parents of such minors had the option of quarantining with their children at the quarantine hotels and that the rules had been in place “since July 14”.
These rules applied to travel from countries classified as dark red, she said, meaning travel was technically banned to and from them except for specific cases with prior permission.
Rules were different for people travelling from countries classified as red, rather than dark red, as they posed a lesser risk.